Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

HOW TO REVIEW THE LITERATURE AND CONDUCT ETHICAL STUDIES

to review all uses of human subjects. Researchers
and community members staff the IRB. Similar
committees oversee the use of animals in research.
The board also oversees, monitors, and reviews the
impact of all research procedures on human par-
ticipants and applies ethical guidelines. The board
also reviews research procedures when a study is
first proposed. Educational tests, “normal educa-
tional practice,” most surveys, most observation of
public behavior, and studies of existing data in
which individuals cannot be identified are exempt
from the IRB.^25

Ethics and the Scientific Community

Physicians, attorneys, counselors, and other profes-
sionals have a code of ethicsand peer review boards
or licensing regulations. The codes formalize pro-
fessional standards and provide guidance when
questions arise in practice.^26 Social researchers do
not provide a service for a fee, receive limited eth-
ical training, and are rarely licensed. However, they
incorporate ethical concerns into research because
it is morally and socially responsible. Doing so also
helps to protect social research from charges of
insensitivity or abusing people. Professional social
science associations around the world have codes
of ethics. The codes state proper and improper
behavior and represent a consensus of profession-
als on ethics. All researchers may not agree on all
ethical issues, and ethical rules are subject to inter-
pretation, but researchers are expected to uphold
ethical standards as part of their membership in a
professional community.
Codes of research ethics can be traced to the
Nuremberg code, which was adopted during the
Nuremberg Military Tribunal on Nazi war crimes
held by the Allied Powers immediately after
World War II. The code, developed as a response
to the cruelty of concentration camp experiments,
outlines ethical principles and rights of human
research participants. The principles in the Nurem-
berg code focused on medical experimentation.
They have become the foundation for the ethical
codes in social research. Similar codes of human
rights, such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of
Human Rights by the United Nations and the 1964

Nuremberg code An international code of moral,

ethical behavior adopted after the war crime trials of

World War II in response to inhumane Nazi medical

experiments; was the beginning of codes of ethics for

human research.

Code of ethics Principles and guidelines developed

by professional organizations to guide research prac-

tice and clarify the line between ethical and unethical

behavior.

Declaration of Helsinki,also have implications for

social researchers.^27 (See Expansion Box 5, Basic

Principles of Ethical Social Research.)

Professional social science associations (e.g.,

the American Psychological Association, American

Anthropological Association, American Political

Science Association, and American Sociological

EXPANSION BOX 5

Basic Principles of Ethical Social Research

Recognize that ethical responsibility rests with the

individual researcher.

Do not exploit research participants or students for

personal gain.

Some form of informed consent is highly recom-

mended or required.

Honor all guarantees of privacy, confidentiality, and

anonymity.

Do not coerce or humiliate research participants.

Use deception only if needed, and always accom-

pany it with debriefing.

Use a research method that is appropriate to the topic.

Detect and remove undesirable consequences to

research subjects.

Anticipate repercussions of the research or publica-

tion of results.

Identify the sponsor who funded the research.

Cooperate with host nations when doing compara-

tive research.

Release the details of the study design with the results.

Make interpretations of results consistent with the data.

Use high methodological standards and strive for

accuracy.

Do not conduct secret research.